Some background, I have been a faithful Garmin Forerunner 205 user for the past 4 year and have been extremely happy with it and Garmin’s excellent customer service. The only reasons why I am forced back in the GPS watch market is because my FR205 was recently stolen from me. I have always wanted to be able to have an integrated heart rate monitor while training. I am not at the place in my training (yet) where I am looking at a powermeter, but may be in the future.
Until a few days ago, it was a toss up between the FR305 and 310xt, but now that I am seeing the Timex Global bodylink is out on the market, I am now starting to think that I should focus on 310xt vs Timex. I am limiting myself to no longer than Olympic distance, so I won’t really be taking advantage of the extended battery life advantage, but I would like to swim with it and not worry if the water will negatively affect the watch.
Price-wise, the Timex is $75 cheaper than the Garmin, but with their current $50 rebate going on, the difference is down to $25, so it isn’t too big of a difference.
Customer service, I have never dealt with Timex, but my last Timex watch was very durable and that battery lasted almost 5 years before needing to be replaced. Garmin’s customer service has been awesome and have no doubt it would continue to be so.
I’m not sure performance-wise, which product is superior or if they are 99% comparable. Anybody out there care to do a comparison on the 2?
-Nick